Chic Purse

A big round of cheers for me please...I finished preparing our stuff to take to the tax man! Life can now carry on and maybe I can even do some stamping!

I thought I would make up for my lack of posts by posting over the weekend. Today I have another CHA Stampavie sample to share. This one uses one of the new Sarah Kay images.

Of my 8 projects for CHA all were cards except this one. I turned this project into a purse, it just seemed fitting. The front and back panels have a box sandwiched in between and you can fit a good amount of goodies inside. I made up the pattern as I went and since the sample is on display at CHA, I can't even offer dimensions. The handle is black grosgrain ribbon. I added a felt flower and paper flowers by MM and a pearl stick pin. The flourish is a Sizzix die. There is stitching along the edges and the top panel is embossed with a little ink to brushed over to bring out the design. Click on the photo for a bigger view.

This project was fun to put together and I have to give a shout out to my sister-in-law. She was visiting when I made this and we bantered back and forth about all the details. It was a joint effort!

I have another recipe card to share tomorrow. Mmm, Mmm good!

Kill Me Now!!

"The only things certain in life are death and taxes." --Benjamin Franklin

Well, I don't necessarily believe that quote but I do believe that taxes may BE the death of ME!!

I loathe tax time...with a BIG passion! We have someone help us prepare our taxes each year but I have the joy (NOT!) of preparing our stuff for the preparer. Pastors have lots of special tax considerations and I have to keep track of thousands of dollars of receipts each year. Not to mention my little stamp "business". Once I talk myself into doing it I try not to stop until the job is done. This is the week and today is the last day...I hope. I couldn't get all crafty when my head was deep in numbers. And don't even get me started on how bad my organization was in 2010!

On a more fun note...CHA begins today! I wish I was there in the worst way! Maybe next year. Diane posted pics of the set up of the Stampavie booth. It is so fun to see my work on the shelves! I thought I would share another one of my samples.

This image is called "Happy Family" from the Gillian Roberts collection. The card is 6x6 so lots of room to create a fun design. The paper is from October Afternoon. This card has quite a bit of stitching and distressing on it. The little bear hanging out of the carriage is popped up. Heidi asked us not to use sentiments on our samples so instead I used a little metal embellishment. Of all the samples I made, this is one of my favorites!

Well, I am going to go get a haircut and finish tackling the taxes. Then maybe a trip to the stamp store as a well deserved reward, lol!

Sarah Kay Sneak

Have you been following the sneak peeks this week on the Stampavie blog? Even though I have seen the images, I still get so excited to see what the other DT gals have created! The images come to life in the hands of those talented ladies.

I have to admit that knowing my samples were being displayed at CHA made me a bit nervous. But once I got to work, it was sheer delight. One of the collections I got to create samples for was Sarah Kay. If you are a lover of all things SK, then you will find some new favorites in this release. About half the releases are classic SK and the other half is a bit different. Totally glam and totally fun to design with. Here is one of my samples to give you a taste...

Squealllll!!! I am so not a girly-girl, but I {heart} to make girly cards. Her hat is popped up for added dimension. I used a Sizzix die to create the felt flower embellishment. The trim is from Making Memories. All of samples are 6" square so they would be large enough for the display. Working with a larger "canvas" left lots of room for creativity.

So, what do you think of the image??